This is not the greatest blog in the world, no. This is just a tribute…

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Monthly Archives: February 2014

I have another friend who has been a very supportive and encouraging my cake decorating and I am very lucky that she has 3 children… well actually just before Christmas it became 4 beautiful children! So this post is about the 3 cakes I got to make for them in 2013!

Her son and middle daughter are both born in July and they had a joint birthday party this year. I can’t remember how the themes of these cakes were decided. This is part of the reason why I keep a blog, so I don’t forget, but I guess I missed the boat this time! I think Chayse was having a Toy Story themed party (I recall Buzz Lightyear on the party invite) and I think Alyssa as getting Barbie toys for her birthday. I said how I had made a Buzz Lightyear before and had really wanted to make a small green alien because it is so cute! The clawwwwwwwww! So my friend said to why not make a green alien cake for Chayse! Yay! And I think the Barbie car for Alyssa was my idea – it was the only Barbie thing I could think of!

I was a little scared about making the alien cake. Would I be able to get him to stand? How would I do his arms? How would I do his ears? And how would I get his antenna to stand up?! I made three chocolate cakes the same size and rounded the tops of them with a knife. With two of the cakes I put the flat side together and that was his body! To ensure the cakes balanced I put a ring of fondant around the base to make it more stable. It seemed to work!

I was sneaky and put my iPad on my recipe holder so I could check out the green alien to make sure I didn’t miss anything! I was pretty happy with how he turned out. I hope you like him.

Check out my cute passenger op the way to the party!!

I had some fun with the Barbie car – it was a pink vanilla cake with purple swirls!

I love the colour of the pink once it was cooked! And I believe a few girls at the party quite liked it too!

I bought a half Barbie from the cake store (yep she has no legs!), I had originally thought of making a Barbie/lady but with making the alien cake and also a few others around that time I knew it would be too much for me. Measuring, shaping the cake was interesting! I kept placing the Barbie in the car to see if it looked okay. The car isn’t perfect and I got a bit upset at the windscreen, but it was pretty late and I didn’t think I had enough time to make another windscreen – one that would stay upright. But you can tell what it is and Alyssa definitely liked the number plate! And I was very happy with the colour!! So here’s Barbie driving off into the distance

The eldest daughter’s birthday is just after Christmas, but because baby number 4 was due just before Christmas her party was held in November. So at the end of November I got to make an owl cake! I love owls! I have actually made another owl cake that I haven’t blogged about yet, however Emily has seen this owl cake and when she did she very excitedly said that was the cake she wanted! I was happy with that!

I had such fun making this cake! Played with lots of colours. No measuring. All free hand I hope you like it – from all angles! Well I wanted you to see all the flowers and the tree!

Emily said she really liked it, which is the main thing. It is also always lovely getting big hugs when they see the cakes!

I almost forgot what colours I made the cake in, but thankfully my friend sent me a post-cut photo! I love how the cake colours turn out. So bright! I don’t know why I am surprised they come out so well, I guess I cannot comprehend how the baking doesn’t affect the colour. Oh well, I am just glad they come out and I can add that specialness to my cakes!! Until next time, I hope you having a hoot of a week!

My legs are aching for bed but I really want to write a post. I just cannot seem to find time to write at the moment and I have so much I would love to write about and I just love writing. So after a semi busy morning finishing some things off for work, a couple of meetings at work, my integrity being questioned (probably a defensive move since I questioned someone else’s integrity) and a lovely Valentine’s Day dinner with my hubbie and my lovely friend and her hubbie, I decided that I must write a post!

I decided to write about Cake Decorating Class tonight for a few reasons. The main reason being is that it is my cake decorating teacher’s 40th birthday this week and we are celebrating her birthday tomorrow night. The other reasons being are that the cakes I have made in class are the most appropriate for Valentine’s Day – because they have flowers!! And by also writing about this topic I could include a snippet about my puppies – since they gave me the best Valentine’s cuddles and kisses today! I love my puppies and Valentine’s Day doesn’t just have to be about romantic love, it should celebrate all love!

I have attended 3 terms of cake decorating class so far and the first thing we learned was how to make roses. So if you missed out on roses on Valentine’s Day – here are some roses from me to you I’m not sure what I can say about roses except for they take over a week or so to make, because you need to make them in 3 stages. The bulb, then add the next set of petals, and then the final layer of petals. If you add all the petals at once they can sag and not hold their shape. I am not a flower person, but I quite liked my first attempt at roses

During another term we made sugar veil lace. The outcome of the sugar veil is beautiful, but getting there is a chore! The packet says it should take approximately 30 minutes for the sugar veil to set, however it took hours and I ended up taking the moulds home and sitting them under our range hood’s down lights to speed the process up!

I was a good girl and managed to have a lot of sugar veil designs to cover my cake ready by next class. I did have a bit of a production line going and every few hours tested the sugar veil to see if it was ready and then put in another lot in the moulds. Not everyone had as much patience as me. I guess I am lucky that working from home gave me the opportunity to multi-task!

We were also asked to create some long pieces (borders) of lace to make a bow. I admit I had some help from the teacher making the bow as it is really finicky! My bow is also covered in pearl dust which I think gives it a nice effect.The third term of cake decorating class was all about Christmas! I was going to put all the Christmas cakes into one post, but I had too many photos to share with you. So I thought I would show you the Christmas Bauble cake we made. Baubles are round you say – they sure are! I had to make a round cake!

I baked my 2 ball halves in dome tins. The dome tins were placed into a bigger cake tin and then kept upright with rice! I love finding out all these tricky techniques. I have a feeling I will use this one again!

I was very happy with the way my Christmas Bauble turned out. I used a bronze shimmer dust on mine and it looked so shiny! The photo I took when it was in my car shows this shininess the best. (I always take a photo of my cakes in the car – in case they don’t make it home! hehe)

Now it is time to bring my puppies into the story. My mischievous puppies… I decided to keep the Christmas Bauble cake for a special friend. My friend moved back to Sydney from the UK the middle of last year and I hadn’t seen her since Christmas 2011. She was coming home to Perth with 2 of her sisters to see her parents and brother, and she and her sisters were coming over for morning tea on the 23rd December. Now I had the cake a good foot from the edge of my kitchen table for a couple of days while it dried. The second morning I am doing something in the kitchen and I glance at the cake and there is a light patch on it. I swear I was tilting my head looking at the cake and looking at the window and wondered if the shimmer dust had faded. I am then trying to work out how I am going to find time, right before Christmas, to buy some new shimmer dust to cover it up. I am pondering this when I realise the bow is undone… and not only was there a light patch, but a couple of royal icing dots were missing… I worked out that someone by the name of Hamlet and put his paws on the table, somehow reached the bow and pulled the cake towards him and licked as far as his tongue would go!!!!

I was faced with a conundrum. Do I serve the cake to my friends? Do I tell my friends what happened? Would my integrity be questioned?! (Sorry that was a dig at today!). Lets just say I told my friends not to eat the icing and I served them from the “good” side of the cake. I think they found humour in Mr Hamlet’s adventure afterwards. And I must admit, the cake was good enough for seconds!

I had a friend once ask me what I would learn in cake decorating training, well I hope those three cakes answer the question! There is so much to learn! And I love my cake decorating class – it is my escape for the week. And it forces me to do some cake stuff! So thank you to my teacher and Happy “Life Begins at 40″ Birthday!

My legs and I are off to bed now. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Hamlet, Macbeth and I are sending some love your way too <3 <3 <3